Some spots on the track you are threading the eye of the needle, definitely. We have a 1-2 in GT3 for Porsche and could have that in Hypercar overall as well. Right now, the McLaren is hounding the Ford Mustang GT3 of Ryan Hardwick. Nyck de Vries now at the wheel of the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid. Their pace just has not been there all week. Yifei Ye in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P is ahead. Francesco Castellaci has taken over the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and he is chasing Nico Pino in the McLaren, the Chilean driver. Simon Mann next up in the sister AF Corse #55 Ferrari 296 GT3. Valentino Rossi is not too far away from being ready for his stint. He will be racing with his teammate Maxime Martin, the Belgian, and the two of them raced together last year in a BMW M4 GT3 in SRO GT World Challenge Europe.
Loic Duval, the Frenchman, is now in the #94 Peugeot 9X8 still making headway. Peugeot are ahead of the #8 Toyota and both of the factory Ferrari 499P's #50 and #51. Brendon Hartley said he grained his tires in qualifying. This track here at Losail is very punishing on the tires. Track and ambient temperatures will decrease later and this will cause graining. Now, Alessandro Pier Guidi is chasing down the Lamborghini SC63 of Edoardo Mortara. The Lamborghini is locking the brakes up and struggling for pace. Pier Guidi chasing Mortara. The Italian cars are not running well in round one, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Isotta Fraschini.
Ferrari should be higher up than the newcomers, truthfully. Carl Watana Bennett is driving the Isotta Fraschini. They are new to the Hypercar ruleset, and Duqueine have graduated here from the European Le Mans Series in LMP2. Carl Bennett sharing with Antonio Seravalle, the Canadian, and Frenchman Jean Karl Vernay. Seravalle was in the car before. The cars look different and sound different. The TV cameras are watching you. Don't go off the road. Phil Hanson with Loic Duval behind. The second place GT3 Porsche is between. We are only 1/3rd of the distance of this race. Three hours and 20 minutes.
We might get eight or nine hours of this race, instead of ten. It actually might get to ten hours, and we have not had a slowdown situation. Very little to no Full Course Yellow. Phil Hanson in the Jota Porsche 963 ahead of the Peugeot. We have had major safety improvements, through small regulations of course. Someone has hit a Michelin signboard and Kevin Estre clonks the Corvette, or almost does, and he didn't even realize he was going off the track. Jean Eric Vergne has not been in Peugeot #93 yet. Mikkel Jensen is the other driver of course.
Josh Caygill is in the pit lane for the #95 United Autosports McLaren GT3. Corvette #82 will be in the pit lane soon. Valentino Rossi is geared up for his stint. When the sun sets this evening, it will do so quickly and then we will be running in pitch dark under the floodlights. Pier Guidi has been assisted by traffic trying to make the pass on the Lamborghini and does so. Lamborghini, first time out, and they have been keeping Ferrari at bay. Ahmad Al Harthy has completed his drive time. Now, Valentino Rossi will be in the car. Al Harthy has done a Ben Keating, driving for as long as possible.
Valentino Rossi must do two and a half hours and Maxime Martin will finish the race for WRT with the #46 BMW M4 GT3. The net for the door was twisted. But Valentino Rossi is into the car. Peugeot #93 under investigation. 200 second stop and go penalty for the #11 Isotta Fraschini for a technical infringement. BMW Team WRT are worried about traction events as Ahmad Al Harthy is cheered for a massive three and a half hour iron man stint. One of those polystyrene tire ad boards is destroyed and could be blocking vital radiator ducting on the Hypercars.
The #11 Isotta Fraschini is serving it's 20 second stop and go penalty. Ahmad Al Harthy debriefing with Maxime Martin. The #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 is in the lane for service and Claudio Schiavoni is doing another double stint as we check in with Joel Sturm. He says the race at Manthey Pure Racing is going fine and they have good strategy but a long race ahead. They are not sure how things will go this evening, as Bruce Jouanny interviews Sturm. Wow. Matt Campbell is now running under 1:40 pursuing Mikkel Jensen.
Matt Campbell is running four seconds quicker than the Peugeot. Ahmad Al Harthy had an option to stay in the car for his whole drive time. He stayed in the car to play through the strategy doing a three-hour stint. His drink bottle was not working either. Oh man! That's a bad deal. He is used to not having any water but it is tough. Porsche have just made a pit stop. Al Harthy just wanted to hand over a good car to his teammates. 3 hours and 22 minutes was his stint time. Porsche 963 #5 has just pitted as well.
Al Harthy's pace did not drop either. Ian James has completed his minimum drive time in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin as the leader dive bombs past Yasser Shahin in the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R! Yikes! Drive through penalties handed to both TF Sport Corvette's and the #95 United Autosport McLaren. Kevin Estre leads the sister Porsche 963 by 37 seconds. Alex Malykhin also getting his drive time in during the heat of the day. Malykhin, good on him for taking avoiding action. That is the EMA car, not the GT3 leading Pure Racing car I believe.
Yasser Shahin is doing all he can to keep up with Daniel Mancinelli the Silver rated driver at Heart of Racing and now, Brendon Hartley is being warned for track limits abuse as we watch Mick Schumacher in the #36 Alpine A424B, eye far ahead to look and see where the traffic is, more than looking into the corner. Nicklas Nielsen is now in the pit lane in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Antonio Fuoco gets aboard the car, a man who won a couple pole positions last year including the 1,000 Miles of Sebring which was the opening WEC race last year.
We watch the Lamborghini scything through the GT3 traffic. This is a battle between the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Darren Leung and the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera. Pit stop time for tires, fuel, and a driver change for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 4999P with Israel's Robert Shwartzmann now replacing Yifei Ye. Pit stop time, too for the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Meanwhile, the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 is up to third place just behind the #93 Peugeot and the #6 Penske Porasche. Will Stevens harrying Mikkel Jensen. So, once again, the plot thickens.
Pit stop time for the Jota Porsche and the Proton Competition Porsche, the #99 Porsche 963, the Fat Turbo Express entry. A driver change at the #12. The question is, I wonder if we will stay green. What will happen if we go to a Virtual Safety Car. Edoardo Mortara has pitted the #63 Lamborghini SC63. Porsche #6 ahead of Peugeot #93 and Toyota #7 of Nyck de Vries. The #8 sister Toyota is back in the top ten and here is Jean Eric Vergne changing into the #93 Peugeot 9X8. This will be Vergne's first stint in the car. You have a driver assistant in the Hypercar class. I don't know if it is allowed in GT3 as the drivers assist each other.
Toyota #7 in the lane and so is the #38 Jota Porsche 963. #6 has now lapped the field. Alpine #36 is in the lane as well. Kamui Kobayashi takes over Toyota #7 from Nyck de Vries. Porsche #6 is in as well. Kevin Estre out and now, Andre Lotterer will take his stint. The #88 Ford Mustang GT3 of Giorgio Roda will serve a 30 second stop and go penalty for abusing track limits. Porsche Penske Motorsport have transformed themselves so far this year after winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January. Penske were very competitive in Bahrain last November as well.
The #2 Cadillac is now back up to third with Sebastien Bourdais at the wheel of it. Bourdais is putting pressure on Jean Eric Vergne in the battle of the Frenchmen. Kevin Estre says the car is good, but they were in traffic behind a lapped Hypercar and most of them took too long to let him pass. This means he was using up his front tires. Robert Shwartzman is crawling all over the back of Kamui Kobayashi for seventh spot. It is a Toyota vs. Ferrari battle as we predicted, but it is for seventh spot. Amazing to see that we have Porsche, Peugeot, and Cadillac scrapping for the top honors so far.
Shwartzman was very close to the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche of Yasser Shahin! Wow! Kudos to Shahin for recognizing the Hypercars were there, and now, they split the McLaren! This is scintillating between the Ferrari and the Toyota! Shwartzman was way over to the right side of the road! The GT3 drivers have their eyes everywhere today! Brendon Hartley and company are off the pace. He damaged a tire during qualifying and they know they are off the pace compared to the others. They do not have the pace to challenge Porsche and Cadillac. Toyota are doing all they can to maximize their potential.
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